Sustained Peace In South Sudan Critical For Guinea Worm Eradication

Jan 17, 2014

Huffington Post: The World’s Youngest Country and a Very Old Disease: South Sudan Proves Guinea Worm Can Be Defeated With Return to Peace
Donald Hopkins, vice president for health programs at the Carter Center

“…[T]his past year, the [South Sudanese] national program reported a 99 percent reduction in [Guinea worm] cases (113 cases in 2013, provisional) since 2006. In the history of the campaign, this is the greatest reduction of cases in just seven years and is a demonstration of what South Sudan can do with sustained peace when it puts its mind to it. … We know by the determination and civic spirit we’ve seen in the campaign to wipe out Guinea worm disease that the people of South Sudan have sacrificed greatly to achieve independence — too much to slide into a prolonged conflict…” (1/16).